Characters / Trails Series Calvard Arkride Solutions Office

Trails Series Main Character Index
Kingdom of Liberl: Estelle's Party | Liberl Royalty and Military | Liberl Civilians
Crossbell State: Crossbell Government and Influential Groups | Crossbell Police and Military | Special Support Section | Crossbell Civilians
Erebonian Empire: Erebonia Imperial Family and Four Great Houses | The Ironbloods | Erebonia Military | Thors' Staff and Instructors | Thors Class VII (Rean Schwarzer | Original Class VII (Part One, Part Two) | New Class VII) | Main Campus Classes | Branch Campus | Erebonian Civilians and Major Groups | Imperial Liberation Front
Republic of Calvard: Calvard Miscellaneous | Arkride Solutions Office
Other Nations: Remiferia Miscellaneous | Elsaim Miscellaneous
Notable Groups: The Bracer Guild | Ouroboros (The Seven Anguis | Enforcers) | Jaeger Corps | Septian Church
Others: Ancient Zemurian Civilization | The Sept-Terrions and the Holy Beasts | Posthumous Characters

Within Calvard, there exists an underground profession known as "Spriggan," that accepts jobs that one can't consult with the Bracer Guild or the police about. One such Spriggan is Van Arkride, who established the Arkride Solutions Office in the capital, Edith. While he worked by himself from the start, the year S.1208 would see him getting several assistants. Together, they serve as the main cast of Trails through Daybreak and its sequel.

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In General

The members of Arkride Solutions Office as of December S.1208.

^{SPOILERS for Kuro II}As of April S.1209, with Elaine, Yumé, and Lapis

• Color-Coded Characters: The Xipha of each party member differs in color:
  • Van: Blue.
  • Agnès: Pink.
  • Feri: Yellow.
  • Aaron: Red and Black.
  • Risette: Cyan.
  • Quatre: Green and Gray.
  • Judith: Orange.
  • Bergard: Brown.
• Combat Pragmatist: They have no problems fighting dirty if need be, even using distractions just to obtain their objective. A stand out example from the first Daybreak game would be when Van's nearly losing against Kasim, Judith comes out and tries to do a sneak attack only for Kasim to block said attack. Judith then goes to try to disarm Kasim with the latter resisting, only for Feri to get behind him and steal the keycards the party needs to advance.
• The Fellowship Has Ended: Subverted at the end of Daybreak: Van thought this was happening, until everyone announced that they're just going to split up for the holidays, then return to the Solutions Office afterwards, a detail Agnès deliberately kept quiet about. Needless to say, Van was not exactly thrilled with this information.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Starting out with different motivations for joining Arkride Solutions Office, they all eventually become tightly-knit friends that can rely on each other, to the point of being willing to go to the boundary between Zemuria and the Beyond just to get Van back from his Devil self.
• The Friends Who Never Hang: During the first two Daybreak games:
  • Bergard has it the worst, showing up so late into the first game that he doesn't have much time to interact with any member other than Van, which isn't helped by how he doesn't even participate in the second game's events.
  • To a lesser extent, Judith isn't shown spending much time with the non-Van members either. She does get to team up with Quatre during Kuro II Chapter 1A, but that's about it.
• Kansas City Shuffle: During the first Daybreak, their entire plan for their fight against Kasim and the MTSC was for Kasim to think Judith is trying to disarm him, only for Feri to get behind him and steal their keycards. The party then makes their escape with the guest characters stalling the MTSC crew.
• Leitmotif: The aptly-named "Arkride Solutions Office" in Daybreak.
• Let's Split Up, Gang!: At the start of Kuro II, Van is still enjoying his alone time in the Office, as his part-timers are still handling their own stuff to take care of, save for Agnès who still visits and helps him from time-to-time.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: In a fashion similar to Estelle's party, Van's party all come from different walks of life, all (forcefully) joining his office either due to wanting to repay Van in some way, or to learn more about/take revenge against Almata by joining Van and Agnès' quest for the eight Genesis artifacts.
• Running Gag: Back in Daybreak, a chapter would often end with a character deciding to join the office without Van's consent, to his very obvious dismay.

Party Members

Van Arkride

Van as of Kuro II

Voiced by: Daisuke Ono (Japanese, adult), Rie Manaka (Japanese, child), Damien Haas (English)

Appearances: Reverie | Daybreak | Kuro II | Kai

The protagonist of Trails through Daybreak. He's a (self-proclaimed) hard-boiled Spriggan working for the Arkride Solutions Office in Edith. One day, he accepts a job from a schoolgirl named Agnès, but said job ends up being much more than he initially expected, one that may very well decide the fate of Zemuria.

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As Van:

• Accidental Pervert: During Daybreak's Intermission Chapter, Van unintentionally gets an eyeful of Judith's naked body after she suffers from a Wardrobe Malfunction. Predictably, he gets slapped for his troubles.
• Adoptive Name Change: His current surname came from the director of the orphanage that took him in. He never had a surname before his life at the orphanage.
• Affectionate Gesture to the Head: He frequently pats younger characters on the head, with one notable recipient being Renne during her time running from the Brights after the events of The 3rd.
• Amicable Exes: It's revealed that Van was once in a relationship with Elaine during high school, but he broke it off after he decided to drop out during their second year. But in spite of some tension remaining between the two, they've ultimately remained friends and still do what they can to support each other.
• Anti-Hero: As a Spriggan, he is willing to accept any job from anyone. This includes morally corrupt groups like Heiyue, jaegers and even Ouroboros. However, he is still shown to have heroic qualities, as he is a kind man deep down and is shown to have standards with his work.
• Badass Driver: He drives a four-seater blue pick-up truck, and he made it drift in a highway during his race against Maxim, a champion racer driving a sports car.
• Badass Longcoat: Wears a prominent blue long coat.
• Baritone of Strength: He's a strong martial artist who can topple many foes (with or without his Grendal form) with a smooth, deep voice courtesy of Daisuke Ono.
• Berserk Button: As Maxim can attest to, casually touching Van's truck without his permission will provoke his ire.
• Big Brother Instinct: Acts like a protective older brother towards quite a few younger characters, especially Yumé and Feri. This somewhat manifests in gameplay through his overall stats which make him an all-arounder/tank hybrid, his Draw Aggro craft, and his ability to shield one of his party members from an attack as Grendel.
• Big Eater: In contrast to his cool and collected appearance, he loves eating delicious food and will inevitably lose that cool factor whenever he's in front of scrumptious cuisines.
• Blade Across The Shoulder: He has his Stun-Caliber resting at his shoulder whenever he's in combat, even when he's running with the weapon drawn.
• Blue Is Heroic: It's his color scheme, from his coat, hair highlights, swimsuit, Xipha, car, and even his lightning hue. Despite his troubles, he's ultimately a heroic guy. This also extends to his Grendel form. Even when the form takes on a more greenish hue, it's still described as Demonic Gear Clad in Blue Darkness, and provides nice contrast to Grendel-Zolga's red and black color scheme.
• Break Her Heart to Save Her: All but stated to be the reason why Van chose to break up with Elaine following his decision to drop out of high school and disappear for a few years. Considering his heavy childhood baggage...
• But Now I Must Go: He was ready to leave Zemuria for good after defeating Gerard, taking back his stolen Devil Core and becoming a Devil in the process... but the remaining members of the main cast want him back, so they chase him to the boundary between Zemuria and the Beyond, where the first Daybreak game's true Final Boss fight takes place.
• Chick Magnet: He is quite the looker and a decent man to boot, so girls finding him attractive isn't all that surprising: Agnès develops a Precocious Crush on him over the course of Daybreak, Sarah is all but stated to gain similar feelings, Renne acts more openly affectionate towards him than any other character she's interacted with, and Elaine still longs for him even though they've broken up for years now. Even on a smaller scale, Ashen, despite crushing on Cao, claims that Van's not a bad catch himself, and even a random girl admits that Van is her type.
• Childhood Friend Romance: Of all the girls he's seen interacting with in Daybreak, Van has the most notable romantic tension with Elaine, whom he confessed to and dated during their first year of high school. And despite the relationship ending after he suddenly disappeared during their second year, it's hinted that neither have truly gotten over the other.
• Choice of Two Weapons: He is shown fighting mixing his Kunlun-style martial arts and his Stun-Caliber.
• Color-Coded Characters: Van is often associated with the color blue.
• Connected All Along: Van is revealed to have met a number of notable characters prior to the events of the Calvard arc. Notable instances include him meeting Renne in the year S.1203 and serving as one of the catalysts to get her involved in the events of Zero. He also worked briefly with Walter during the events of the Great War in Cold Steel IV. He was also the driver mentioned in the short story Three and Nine who helped Swin and Nadia out while they were on the run from Garden.
• Contrasting Sequel Protagonist:
  • To Estelle, Lloyd, and Rean. Unlike his predecessors who all started out as teenaged rookies, Van is the first main protagonist of an arc who starts out as a young adult^note leaving aside Kevin and "C," who were only main characters for one game each who's already plenty experienced as a person and fighter. He's also less averse to the shadier walks of life, and insists on reciprocal transactions (ie: while he'll do the right thing, he'll always ask for compensation in return.) He's even willing to work for anyone so long as he thinks it's worth it though he generally doesn't cross any lines he's not comfortable with, whereas the aforementioned trio were more morally upright and took to more straight-laced careers. He also ends up averting the Thou Shall Not Kill rule they adhered to by being the first Trails protagonist to kill someone on-screen when performing a Mercy Kill on Aida, then deliberately going for the killing blow when fighting the members of Almata later on.
  • The most notable contrast comes from his immediate predecessor, Rean Schwarzer. Both are hosts for an evil power, but, while Rean's power comes from Ishmelga's curse, and as such from two Sept-Terrion fused together, Van's power comes from The Beyond. Rean got said power due to Osborne's heart being transplanted into him to save him from death, while Van has been the host of Vagrants-Zion since birth. Also, Rean ends up controlling and weaponizing the curse as a Super Mode, while Van breaks off from the demon's control and helps in its defeat.
• Conveniently an Orphan: Van was an orphan with no memories of his life from before he began living in an orphanage in Oracion. This led to him being adopted at the age of seven... by someone from the D∴G Cult.
• Cool Big Bro: Towards most younger characters, complete with headpats, guy and girl alike.
• Cool Car: He has a blue pick-up truck that he uses for work. Anyone who is an adult ends up driving his car for when the party makes long distance travels. This ends up getting modified later into an eight-seater van.
• Costume Evolution: Kai has him trade in his clothes from the Daybreak games for a new outfit that includes a darker jacket and gray pants.
• Crazy Enough to Work: At the climax of chapter 5 in Daybreak, he makes his team jump from the balcony of the castle, which is getting blown up thanks to Melchior, to the river below while letting the Shard Field taking most of the impact.
• Dark and Troubled Past: He claims to have lived on a nightmare for ten years thanks to an unknown party. This is revealed to be due to his adoption at age seven being the worst event of his life, as his adopter turned out to be a member of the D∴G Cult and as a result, was subjected to the experiments—particularly related to his mixed status and the Devil Core inside him—of said cult for seven years until he managed to break free at age 14.
• Dark Is Not Evil: His primary element is Time, and he's the main good guy of Daybreak. As is tradition for Trails characters with Time as their primary element, it foreshadows just how much baggage he really has.
• Death from Above: His Aerial Buster craft, and by extension its upgrade Raging Buster, has him jump up, do a vertical spin, then slam his Stun-Caliber on the target.
• Draw Aggro: His Coin Bullets craft allows him to have enemies go after him instead of going after the rest of the party.
• Early-Bird Cameo: He's mentioned in Elaine's short-story in Reverie, and a faint image of him from behind can be spotted.
• Empowered Badass Normal: Was already an Experienced Protagonist who was capable of kicking ass with just his martial arts training. He became even deadlier after gaining his hands on Grendel.
• Everyone Can See It: In spite of their relationship having ended several years prior, the romantic tension between Van and Elaine becomes obvious rather quickly to everyone around them, with some such as René even pushing the two to get together.
• Everyone Has Standards: When it comes to his job as a Spriggan, he has no qualms working with shady organizations, whether they be Heiyue, Jaegers, or even Ouroboros. Even so, he'll make exceptions for people like Melchior and Gerard.
• Experienced Protagonist: At 24 years of age, he's older than any of the previous arcs' protagonist^note The only Trails protagonist that was older than him was only a protagonist for one game., and he's been in the Spriggan business for about 5 years before the start of his arc.
• The Gadfly: Likes to take shots at Judith, especially after she joins his Solutions Office.
• Good Old Fisticuffs: His Souha Houken craft has him stab his weapon to the ground, dropping lightning towards his targets and then delivers a punch afterwards.
• Goofy Suit: Kuro II gives him a unique "Mishy suit" as a pre-order DLC costume.
• Hardboiled Detective: Likes to portray himself as a "cool and no-nonsense" type of back-alley solver and even admits to having killed people before he met Agnès and the others, on top of his Dark and Troubled Past, but his laid-back attitude, love of cuisine and sweets, and general Team Dad moments towards his office's younger members would tell people otherwise.
• Hypocrite:
  • In Chapter 5 of Daybreak, he can see that Elaine is extremely upset about the whole ordeal with Creil Village, so he tells her that she has plenty of people she can rely on, including him. But as Elaine points out in the following chapter, he refuses to rely on anybody else; not her, not René, not even his assistants.
  • Another moment happens during the cutscene before the final boss in Daybreak. Van had just banished himself to another plane to delay Vagrants-Zion's awakening when the members of his Office followed to save him. He says they shouldn't have come to his rescue, but Quatre points out that he would've done the same if it was his part-timers in that situation and not him, outright calling the man a hypocrite in the process.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice:
  • In Chapter 5 of Daybreak, he's on giving end of this trope, finishing off Gerard in Chapter 5 by reverting out of Grendel and stabbing him.
  • He's then on the receiving end during Kuro II's prologue, getting stabbed right through the chest by Grendel-Zolga's claw and dying after trying and failing to avenge Elaine's death.
• Improbable Weapon User: He flicks coins as a craft.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite his shady profession and sarcastic attitude, Van is ultimately a good person and doesn't really hesitate to help someone if they're in trouble.
• Laser Blade: His second S-Craft, Souten Hansho, has him gather up his Devil King power from within with the use of his Kunlun martial arts, complete with Power Glows, then pointing his Stun-Calibur upwards to create an extending energy beam to slam it above an enemy, dealing massive damage.
• The Leader: As the founder and owner of the Arkride Solutions Office, any other members ultimately listen to him. It helps that all of them barring Bergard are younger than him.
• Limit Break: His normal S-Craft in Daybreak is Vandalize Raid. He then gains a new S-Craft in Kuro II called Souten Hansho.
• Ma'am Shock: Given that he's still just 24 during the first Daybreak game (becoming 25 in the second), he understandably does not like it when Aaron calls him "ossan."^TranslationA rude Japanese term used to refer older, usually middle-aged, men, with "old man" being the usual English equivalent Worse still, when Shahina innocently refers to him as "ojisan"^TranslationLiterally "uncle," but often used for any older adult man., he looks outright dejected.
• Meaningful Name: His name, Van, is somewhat of an acronym for Vagrants-Zaion.
• Mercy Kill: He stabs Aida in her final moments in place of Feri, reasoning that the latter is still too young to be forced into such a deed.
• Money Mauling: His appropriately named Coin Bullets craft uses five 10-mira coins to flick at his enemies.
• Mr. Fanservice: Van is a rather attractive man, who has caught the attention of more than a few female characters. His swimsuit◊ DLC and bath scenes also show that he's pretty ripped.
• The Nicknamer: Loves giving this to some characters. Notable ones include "Yume-bo" for Yume, "Mare-ko" for Mare, and "El-ko" for Elaine, which was also used by René in their childhood days.
• The Nose Knows: As a survivor of the D∴G Cult, he has a heightened sense of smell. He displays it in the prologue when he's able to tell there's someone tailing him and Agnès from far away from a scent he smelt which is Renne atop a building adjacent to the place they're about to enter and him sensing people escaping the room where Giacomo is murdered even though they used RAMDA's stealth feature.
• Oblivious to Love: As stated in the initial magazine scans for Kuro II, any signs of Agnès having a crush on him go right over his head.
• Old Flame: He dated Elaine in high school, but broke up with her after he decided to drop out of Aramis. However, it's heavily implied that neither are truly over one another.
• Otaku: He loves his cars and will go on a tangent about them if given a chance.
• Our Demons Are Different: Like McBurn, he's a human that's mixed with an entity from the Beyond. The difference between Van and McBurn is that Van was born with it, while McBurn fused with an entity from the Beyond.
• Practical Taunt: His Coin Bullets allows him to taunt his enemies and go after him.
• Punch-Clock Hero: In a Call-Back to Zero, Van saves a bus from monsters during Chapter 1 of Daybreak, and once the incident is resolved, gives the driver his business card in order to get paid for his troubles, as he's not doing volunteer work like the Bracer Guild.
• Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: During the beginning of his S-Craft Vandalize Raid, he throws a bunch of punches at his enemies.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: He has this dynamic with Aaron, being the slightly more cool-headed Blue. The two heavily contrast with each other, literally have Red and Blue color schemes, and even before Aaron formerly joins the Arkride Solutions office, the two clash on just about everything and Van is by far the most direct (and effective) at trying to calm a raging Aaron down with rational thinking in Chapter 2.
• Reincarnation: It's revealed in Daybreak's Final Chapter that Van is the human "shell" of Vagrants-Zion, a Devil King that at some point in time was sealed in Zemuria and became "Van". Van became aware of this fact at some point during his childhood, presumably after his captivity by the Cult, and even admits that he doesn't remember who "Mare" is supposed to be, implying they knew each other at one point.
• Serious Business: Anything involving cars are serious business for Van, to the point where he'll race a complete stranger just to prove that his car is the best. Said stranger being the current racing champion matters not.
• Set Swords to "Stun": His Stun-Calibur is normally non-lethal due to it being blunt, but he can set it to "kill" if he's forced to that makes it sharper than usual, which was what he did before killing Aida, Viola, Alexandre, and Gerard.
• She's Not My Girlfriend: He frequently has to tell people that there's nothing going on between him and Elaine, to little avail.
• Shock and Awe: A few of his attacks have lightning properties. His Stun-Calibur can be electrified to inflict more damage as shown when he kills Gerard.
• Slasher Smile: In his first transformation into Grendel, his smile looks like he's about to wreck his enemies. He does it again in his second S-Craft as a Freeze-Frame Bonus.
• Spectacular Spinning: His Stun Slash craft, as well as its upgrade Magna Slash, has him turn in a circular motion as he slashes the target.
• Supporting Protagonist: Van still serves as the main viewpoint character in Kuro II, but Swin and Nadia are the ones with a personal connection to Garden-Master, Ellroy, the twins, and Altera; Van's just along for the ride.
• Sweet Tooth: Van loves his sweets (blaming Elaine and René for getting him addicted to them during their childhood years) and can be bribed with it: in the first Daybreak game's Prologue, he finally takes Agnès' request when presented with tarts from a famous bakery, and during said game's ending cutscene, Agnès successfully bribed him into going to her house to meet her father with cake, causing Van to lament that she's become more cunning since their first meeting. He even has it mandated on his Five Tenets^note Sweets are once Daily.
• Sword Plant: At the start of his Souha Houken craft, he'll stab his Stun-Calibur into the ground for the express purpose of shocking the enemies in range.
• Tall, Dark, and Handsome: 180cm (5'11) tall with dark hair, very handsome, and the sauna and bath scenes show that he's pretty ripped.
• Team Dad: Being The Leader and the oldest of the main party sans Bergard, he's understandably protective of the more juvenile members of his office (Agnès, Quatre, and Feri). He's seen prioritizing their safety and even goes out of his way to make sure they don't always have to see or interact with dead bodies while he's with them.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: Unlike the protagonists that came before him, he averts this in as early as Chapter 1 of his arc's first game. He mercy kills Aida, Feri's sister figure, at the end of Chapter 1, can kill Viola and Alexandre if the player makes him, and he stabs Gerard in the chest at the end of Chapter 5.^note The only protagonists before him that had killed were protagonists for one game (Sky the 3rd and Reverie), and only killed when they weren't protagonists.
• Too Many Belts: He's wearing a lot of belts, mostly from his coat.
• Unique Protagonist Asset:
  • Even ignoring Grendel, which fights under a different system from the other characters, Van has an exclusive Holo Core that other characters cannot equip and said Holo Core has multiple variations when the player reaches level 3 of any alignment.
  • In a first for the Trails Series, he's the only character to get a 2nd S-Craft in Kuro II.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: With Elaine; despite hints of the two still having feelings for one another, various issues, such as Van's demonic roots, make them hesitant to act on those feelings for a good chunk of the arc.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Both Aaron and René prove to be quite dependable no matter how much they annoy Van.
• Walking Spoiler: As expected of someone with an alleged Dark and Troubled Past, there are many parts of his character and story that can't be delved into without spoiling major reveals.
• Weapon Across the Shoulder: Holds his Stun-Calibur like this in his official artwork from Kuro II and idle pose in battle.
• The Worf Effect: At the climax of the first Daybreak game's prologue chapter, he downs two Almata mobs in a cutscene. They ingest a pill that gives them more power and ends up dominating against Van. Before they get to land the finishing blow however with Agnès trying to block the attack, time stops and the Genesis artifact glows with both Van and Agnès in a space void with Mare showing up, offering Van the powers of Grendel.
• Working with the Ex: There are multiple instances during the first two Daybreak games where he and his ex-girlfriend Elaine have to team up with one another. Thankfully, any negative tension between the two is mostly gone by the time of the second game.
• Yellow Lightning, Blue Lightning: His Souha Houken craft normally has blue lightning, but its upgrade in Kuro II changes it to yellow.
• You Are Not Alone: As seen in the first Daybreak game, one flaw he shares with his predecessor Rean is in how they try to shoulder everything onto themselves rather than letting others carry the weight with them, much to the frustrations of those who care about them. As such, Van too must learn to rely on others over the course of the game.

As Grendel:

Van, Mare, and the Grendel

^SPOILERGrendel Sin

An otherworldly beast-like Shard armor that Van can transform into after the first Genesis gave his Holo Core AI a form of sentience and the ability to have Van "don his nightmares".

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• Attack! Attack! Attack!: Whenever Van transforms into Grendel, he can only attack his enemies. He won't be able to heal himself during battles unless someone heals him. While his Savage Blade craft heals him while attacking, the amount of HP it recovers is very low. Thankfully, it can hit more than one enemy, so it's still a good idea to spam it when possible.
• Badass Creed: During Daybreak's Intermission chapter, Van ends up reciting a creed when he transforms into Grendel complete with both Japanese and Gratuitous English voices overlapping with each other. The English sentence itself sounds very silly.
  Van: Yes. I take it. By the Lead of Fragile Chain, I'm Existing Here- I am Nightmare, I am Grendel Biting Myself...!!
• Bare-Fisted Monk: When in this form, Van uses attacks that are primarily hand-to-hand combat: Rapid Onslaught has him throw a forward punch, Heavy Spike throwing a kick, Savage Blade throwing a chop, Mortal Raid a pair of dropkicks, and Destruction Fist a gut-punch.
• Dangerous Forbidden Technique: Transforming into Grendel wrecks Van's body, which comes to a head in the final fight against Gerard, as him reclaiming his lost Devil Core while in Grendel Sin form would turn him into the Devil the core was housing. He gets better midway through the first Daybreak's Final Boss fight though.
• Diving Kick: Regal Strike ends with him pulling a dive kick as his finishing move.
• Face of a Thug: Grendel's appearance is menacing enough for Gotch to outright use the term "villain" to describe it, but Van isn't any less heroic when using the form.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: Grendel has glowing blue eyes. There's also a noticeable flash during the first cutscene it appears in.
• Henshin Hero: With the help of his Xipha AI Mare, Van can transform into Grendel.
• Kamehame Hadoken: The Limited Blaster craft has him fire a beam of energy from his hands at the opponent.
• Laser Blade: Grendel itself doesn't utilize a sword, but Kouten Hansho has Van summon a beam of light that parts the skies and then grabbing it like a sword to slam it down on his enemies from above like its original form "Souten Hansho".
• Leitmotif: Whenever Van is forced to transform, one of the following songs will likely start playing:
  • "RISE OF THE GRENDEL" in Daybreak.
  • "Solid-State Shard Blow" in Kuro II.
• Lightning Bruiser: As Grendel, his HP and attack increases, and he can attack enemies twice with a third time if he uses a S-Boost without any fear of getting counterattacked if he misses. He will also defend one ally if they're targeted by the boss. However, he loses the bonuses he gets from the Holo Core, requiring him to rely on the bonuses he gets from the Xipha grid. His S-Craft also cannot increase the S-Boost Gauge for some reason.
• Limit Break: Van's S-Crafts as Grendel are variations of his normal ones, with his first S-Craft in Daybreak being Regal Strike, then gaining a new S-Craft in Kuro II called Kouten Hansho.
• Power Makes Your Voice Deep: His voice is noticeably deeper when in this form.
• Super-Scream: The Howling Roar craft has him let out a yell to damage the target.
• Superpowered Evil Side: A variation in which the Grendel acts as a sort of bodily restraint that allows Van to access his inherent Devil King powers without taking too much of a toll on his human body.
• Taking the Bullet: Utilized as a gameplay mechanic: whenever Van's in this form, there's a chance he'll jump in and take an attack meant for another party member.
• Theme Music Power-Up: Whenever Van transforms into Grendel in Daybreak, there's a good chance that "RISE OF THE GRENDEL" with play throughout the fight. If he does it in Kuro II, "Solid-State Shard Blow" will play instead.
• Transformation Sequence: Gets one in important story bits such as the first transformation and the transformation into the Grendel Alter and Sin forms. Downplayed in-battle as the "Take the Grendel" craft, since Van simply turns into the Grendel with no elaborate transformation cutscene whatsoever unlike Judith turning into Grimcat in-battle.
• Yellow Lightning, Blue Lightning: The Destruction Fist craft normally utilizes blue lightning, but its upgrade in Kuro II changes it to yellow.

Agnès Claudel

Agnès during Daybreak

^{Agnès in her Aramis uniform}

^{Agnès as of Kuro II}

Voiced by: Miku Itō (Japanese), Amanda Lee (English)

Appearances: Reverie | Daybreak | Kuro II | Kai

A first-year student at Aramis, she puts in a request to the Arkride Solutions Office after her great-grandfather's orbment was stolen, only to end up joining the office as a part-timer to pay Van back while searching for said orbment's seven other copies.

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• Affectionate Nickname: Nadia refers to her as "A-chan."^note As with Millium's nickname for Altina, it's pronounced as "Ah-chan"
• Apologetic Attacker: Will sometimes let out an "I'm sorry!" when using her "Glow Hammer" craft against an enemy.
• Betty and Veronica: As one of Van's two primary love interests, Agnès serves as his openly sweet assistant who shows a surprisingly mature and determined side underneath her normally demure personality, while Elaine's aloof nature hides an adorably immature side. Additionally, Agnès's biggest obstacle in winning Van's heart is in how he largely doesn't see her as an equal, while Elaine's is in how he's not yet ready to open up about his issues with her.
• Blue with Shock: Kuro II features multiple scenes of her face turning blue out of horror, such as when Van shows her a picture of Grendel-Zolga.
• Buxom Beauty Standard: Agnès is quite curvy for her age, particularly in the chest area, making her the target of envy from Feri, Shahina, and even the older Fie.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: While Agnès never gets outright clingy towards Van, there are plenty of moments where she seems distinctly unhappy with his interactions with other women. Chapter 3 of Daybreak alone gives at least 3 instances of this:
  • First, there's the time where Van received a call from Risette, made even more suspicious by how he suddenly hung up.
  • Then, there's the time where Risette came all the way to Tharbad in part because of the above. The icing on the cake was Aaron comparing Van's apology for this to "making excuses for cheating."
  • Finally, she, like everyone else, notices that Sarah is acting different towards him on the Office's second day of work.
  • The following chapter continues this, what with her freaking out upon seeing Renne wrap herself around Van's arm. Just the reaction Renne was hoping for.
  • Her reintroduction in the prologue for Kuro II shows her being a bit more concerned with why Van is alone with Elaine than whatever was troubling him at the moment.
  • Her and Renne's shared Connect Event from Kuro II has her give another displeased stare when Renne, once again, wrapped herself around Van's arm.
• Connected All Along: She's the great-granddaughter of the famous Claude Epstein, the father of the Orbal Revolution.^note Due to her biological grandmother being adopted by Epstein. She also turns out to be Roy Gramheart's daughter.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: While "main heroines" from previous arcs were around the same age as their respective protagonist, there's a notable gap between Agnès (who just entered high school) and Van (who's in his mid-20's).^note While Juna and Altina were also younger than Rean, they were never given the official label of main heroine.
• Cool Big Sis: She acts as a supportive older sister figure towards Feri.
• Costume Evolution: She's the only member of the Office whose default outfit is different in all of her appearances:
  • In the first Daybreak game, she wore a white coat over a long, pink sweater, brown knee-high boots over stockings, and a red hat.
  • In Kuro II, she keeps the "white over pink" color scheme of her previous attire, but does away with the stockings and knee-high boots while also trading in her red hat for a black one.
  • In Kai, she wears a white shirt with no jacket, a new red skirt and hat, and black thigh-high boots.
• Covert Pervert: Aaron calls her out on this near the end of Daybreak's Intermission, citing her tendency to read risque novels from time to time. She first panics and tries to make excuses, but later makes a face of Tranquil Fury at him, at which point he uncharacteristically goes quiet.
• D-Cup Distress: She shows obvious embarrassment any time her chest size is pointed out, such as her first meeting with Van.
• Deflector Shields: Her Djibril Guard craft has her surround herself and allies around her in large, white spheres, giving them Guard gauges.
• Determinator: Contrary to her demure and gentle appearance, she is incredibly hard-headed and stubborn, doing whatever she wants to because she can. Not even the constant sights of corpses or a Devil King from another plane can deter her from working with the morally-gray Van.
• Deuteragonist: Of the first Daybreak game. She serves as the game's heroine, and her storyline with the Oct-Genesis drives the main plot.
• Dissonant Serenity: Played for Laughs; whenever Aaron says something she disapproves of (usually a sexual innuendo), she gives him an angelic smile that unnerves him into submission.
• Dude Magnet: Her Childhood Friend Albert has a fairly obvious crush on her, their classmate Lyall is shown fawning over her, and even Quatre couldn't help but blush and note how cute she is.
• Early-Bird Cameo: She appears as the girl from Renne's short story in Reverie that tried to stand up to Ronald for his treatment of Renne.
• Elemental Eye Colors: Her eyes are blue, matching her secondary element of Water.
• Elemental Hair Colors: Her blond hair aligns with her primary element of Space.
• Expy Coexistence: Like Tita Russel, Agnès is a mild-mannered girl with blue eyes and blonde hair who's related to a famous engineer and is close friends with Renne on top of that. In Agnès' case, her adoptive great-grandfather is Claude Epstein, the father of the Orbal Revolution. They also both have crushes on older guys, with Agnès being 8 years younger than Van, while Tita is 12 years younger than Agate.
• Food as Bribe: In Daybreak's Prologue, she successfully gets Van to take a job that's essentially a Wild Goose Chase with some tarts she bought. She attempts to pull this again in the game's ending when she tries to get him to go to her house and meet her dad by offering him some cake, and the Final Chapter of Kuro II confirms that he indeed ate that cake.
• Formal Characters Use Keigo: To help highlight her mild-mannered demeanor, she speaks to everyone^note even her friends and those younger than her with polite, formal speech in the Japanese script. A conversation with Quatre in Daybreak reveals that Agnès's friends want her to get out of this habit.
• Generation Xerox: As revealed during her Connect Event in the Final Chapter of Kuro II, both she and her mother fell for men 8 years older than them.
• Given Name Reveal: Her birth name is "Agnès Gramheart," making her the current president's daughter. However, Agnès sticks with her mother's maiden name "Claudel" as is family tradition out of respect to Claude Epstein who adopted her grandmother years prior.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: A blond-haired girl with kindness to spare.
• The Heart: She's usually the first member of the Office to try and mediate conflicts as peacefully as possible.
• He's Not My Boyfriend: She's quick to deny rumors of Van being her "boyfriend from her part-time job," even if it's clear that she wouldn't mind if these rumors were true.
• Hint Dropping: During her final Connect Event in Kuro II, she tells Van that her parents were 8 years apart. She clearly wanted him to realize that she and Van are also 8 years apart, but notes that the implications went right over his head.
• Hopeless Suitor: Agnès gains a bit of a crush on Van over the course of Daybreak, but she's also aware that Van both sees her as Just a Kid and has something going on with Elaine (his ex-girlfriend). Nonetheless, the ending of Kuro II has her claim that, even if she has no chance of winning, she hopes to one day find the courage to properly express her feelings to him.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: She's only 158cm (5'2), while her crush Van is 180cm tall (5'11).
• Humongous-Headed Hammer: Her Glow Hammer craft, as well as its Kuro II upgrade Sacred Hammer, has her conjure a giant magical 2-sided hammer on top of her staff and then drop it on her enemies.
• Joshikousei: She's a student at Aramis, and the first teaser for Daybreak shows her wearing the school uniform◊. This also makes her the arc's first confirmed character to have more than one costume.
• Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: She's the innocent and demure Light Feminine to Renne's mature and graceful Dark Feminine. One promotional image even puts the former in a white dress and the latter in a black one.
• Light Is Good: Her primary element is Space, with her S-Craft involving a halo, and she's arguably the most straightforwardly good member the Office has.
• Like Mother, Like Daughter: Her Precocious Crush on Van seems to be genetic, as her mother Sophie was also 8 years younger than her husband, Roy Gramheart.
• Limit Break: Her S-Craft is Brilliant Halo.
• Long Hair Is Feminine: She's a Girly Girl with hair that reaches her thighs.
• Magic Missile Storm: Her Étoile Ray craft, and by extension its upgrade Pleiades Ray, has her shoot magical beams of light straight at her targets.
• Magic Staff: She's notably the first main heroine in the Trails Series to use an Orbal Staff in combat.
• The Medic: Thanks to her White Heal and Innocent Heal crafts and her S-Craft Brilliant Halo, she fills the role of the Solutions Office's designated healer.
• Missing Mom: Her mother passed away 4 years prior to the events of Daybreak.
• Nice Girl: She's a complete sweetheart who always does her best to show kindness towards everyone she meets.
• Oblivious to Love: It's outright stated in Daybreak that she's unaware of her own attractiveness, so she unsurprisingly doesn't notice when others, such as Albert, have otherwise obvious crushes on her.
• Only Sane Man: As the most normal member of the Solutions Office, she frequently finds herself pointing out how quirky her boss and co-workers are.
  • In a similar fashion, she's also this during her time as a trio with Swin and Nadia in Kuro II Chapter 2B, as their general mindsets are clearly not something regular high school students have.
• Required Party Member:
  • One of the side quests in the first Daybreak game's Final Chapter requires that she be included in the party.
  • She, Van, Feri, and Aaron are forced to be the only party members in the fight against Aida-Ghoula and Demon Taikun during Kuro II's Final Battle.
• Sexy Sweater Girl: She wears a pink sweater as part of her outfit in Daybreak that does little to hide her curves.
• Stripperiffic: In sharp contrast to her conservative default outfits, her "Z-1 Race Queen" costumes are quite Fanservicey:
  • The Type-A comes with a small black top that shows a lot of cleavage and fully exposes the stomach area, and the shorts are really short.
  • The Type-B, meanwhile, may not show off the stomach area, but makes up for it by revealing even more cleavage and completely exposing the legs.
• Spoiled Sweet: Is revealed to be the daughter of President Evil Roy Gramhart but is an all-around sweet and polite Nice Girl.
• Sword Plant: Her new craft from Kuro II, Holy Bloom, starts with her sticking her staff into the ground.
• Uptown Girl: She comes from a well-off background, while her crush is lower-class.
• White Mage: In fact, she's the only playable character in the Calvard arc to have more support crafts than offensive ones.^note Glow Hammer/Sacred Hammer and Étoile Ray/Pleiades Ray are the only ones that do damage; White Heal/Innocent Heal and Brilliant Halo restore HP immediately, while Djibril Guard and Holy Bloom grant HP Recovery.
• White Magician Girl: Like Elie before her, Agnès is an archetypal example, as she's the most traditionally feminine member of the Office, is arguably the most compassionate member, and leans towards support over offense.

Ferida "Feri" Al-Fayed

Voiced by: Yui Ogura (Japanese), Anjali Kunapaneni (English)

Appearances: Daybreak | Kuro II | Kai

A young girl who is a member of the Jaeger corps known as the Warriors of Kruga, she first meets Van to request his help in looking for her friend Aida, but later joins the Solutions Office as a part-timer in order to gain more worldly experience.

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• A-Cup Angst: Unsurprisingly for somebody who just entered their teens, she's the only girl in the Solutions Office who doesn't have a well-endowed chest, and a few instances in both Daybreak^note When the party first encounter Grimcat in Chapter 1 where she points out her womanly figure, and when bathing with Fie in Chapter 3 and Kuro II^note When bathing in Chapter 2A show that she wants to look like Agnès and Risette someday.
• Boyish Short Hair: She's the least traditionally feminine member of the Office's girls and has by far the shortest hair.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: During Chapter 3D of Kuro II, she falls under the influence of the 8th Genesis, causing her to try and kill the Arkride Solutions Office.
• Children Are Innocent: Her relative youth means that she doesn't understand certain terms or implications that other characters pick up on. Agnès, in particular, regularly tries to protect said innocence whenever somebody, such as Aaron, threatens to set a bad example for her.
• Child Soldiers: She's 13 during her introduction, and she's already been a member of a high-ranking Jaeger Corps for about 2 years.
• Commonality Connection: She forms an instant bond with Fie over their shared circumstances and kin, with Fie taking the role of an older sister.
• Curtains Match the Window: Both her eyes and her hair are the same shade of blue.
• A Day in the Limelight: Chapter 1 of the first Daybreak game focuses on her getting help to search for a missing Aida.
• Dual Boss: She faces the party alongside the monster Garva-Alcon during Chapter 3D of Kuro II.
• Fake Memories: In Kuro II Chapter 3D, her memories are rewritten by the 8th Genesis to make her believe that 1. She's never met the Solutions Office before, and 2. They previously worked for Almata. As such, she attempts to kill them as punishment for what happened to Creil Village.
• Flaming Sword: Her Heat Edge Craft, and by extension its upgrades Blaze Edge and Sapphira Edge, has her slash with her Assault Sword while it's covered in fire. Her Ifreeta Raid Craft from Kuro II also utilizes this.
• The Glomp: She runs up and hugs Van after he and Shizuna rescue her and Fie during Daybreak's Final Chapter.
• Gratuitous Foreign Language: She occasionally delves into the Arabic language, using "ab" instead of "father and "umm" instead of "mother."
• Height Angst: She doesn't like it whenever somebody, especially Aaron, points out her small stature compared to most of the people around her.
• Kukris Are Kool: Her Kruga's Guardian Blade Craft has her pull out a Kukri and throw it at the enemy.
• Like Brother and Sister: She quickly forms a sibling-esque bond with Aaron after the latter joins the office.
• Limit Break: Her S-Craft is Ignes Rampage.
• Mercy Kill: She was supposed to be the one to kill the dying Aida to give her an honorable death as a Jaeger, but she ultimately couldn't. As such, Van, not wanting such a young kid to bear this kind of responsiblity, does the deed himself.
• More Dakka: Her primary weapon is a machine gun, and her Rapid Burst/Rapid Eruption Craft has her mow down the enemy with it.
• Morph Weapon: She can turn her machine gun into a sword, as seen in both her Heat Edge/Blaze Edge Craft and the end of her Ignis Rampage S-Craft. Fittingly enough, her weapon is classified as an Assault Sword.
• My God, What Have I Done?: She has this reaction upon realizing that she tried to kill the other Office Members while Brainwashed and Crazy in Kuro II Chapter 3D.
• Playing with Fire: The Warriors of Kruga seems to treat "the fire" in a similar way that the Nord Highlanders treat "the wind." Fittingly, Feri's primary element is Fire, and some of her Crafts involve flames.
• Practically Different Generations: She's only 13, while her brother Kasim is 27.
• Required Party Member: She, Van, Agnès, and Aaron are forced to be the only party members in the fight against Aida-Ghoula and Demon Taikun during Kuro II's Final Battle.
• Reused Character Design: As the red aura from the cutscene is not present in the battle itself, it's clear that Garva-Alcon◊, the monster she summons in Kuro II, and Loa-Gryam◊, the Cryptid fought during Chapter 4 of Kuro I use the exact same model, down to the color scheme.
• Status Buff: Her Chant of Flame Craft increases the Strength and ATS stats of herself and any ally around her, while also granting them CP Recovery.
• Sword Beam: The first part of her Ifreeta Raid Craft from Kuro II has her shoot fire slash-beams from her Flaming Assault Sword.
• Technicolor Fire: In Kuro II, her Blaze Edge Craft can be upgraded to Sapphira Edge, which uses blue flames instead of the normal red.
• Token Mini-Moe: At 13 years of age (14 as of Kuro II's Final Chapter) and a height of 150 cm, she fills the "cute little girl" quota expected of a Trails game's main party.
• Token Minority: She's the only Middle-Eastern member of the Office.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: As Van notes in Kuro II Chapter 2A, she often gets into squabbles with Aaron, but they still manage to work well together, such as when they perform their different styles of dance together on stage.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Similar to Elie, Feri is shown to not be fond of ghosts, as seen in Chapter 4 of Daybreak.

Aaron Wei

Voiced by: Yūma Uchida (Japanese), Howard Wang (English)

Appearances: Daybreak | Kuro II

A talented martial artist living in Calvard's Eastern Quarter, he first meets the Arkride Solutions Office after Heiyue gave them a request to come to Langport. By the end of the trip, he decides to give the Spriggan job a try, becoming a part-timer at the office.

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• Affectionate Nickname: His father Leroy calls him "Ronny," though Aaron doesn't think that his dad has any right to call him that after walking out on him and his mother.
• Animal Battle Aura: Forms one in the shape of a phoenix at the end of his S-Craft.
• Arranged Marriage: Heiyue wants to set him up with Ashen, but there's no indication in the first Daybreak game that he's remotely interested, as both are see each other Like Brother and Sister.
• Badass Biker: When Bergard joins the party, he gets the opportunity to ride Bergard's bike, due to Van's car running out of space for everyone. And in one of Daybreak's endgame Side Quests, he'll use his Xipha to launch himself in the air and gain more speed for the race quest.
• Badass Driver: For long distance trips, Van will sometimes have Aaron drive his truck.
• Big Brother Instinct: Going hand-in-hand with their relationship, Aaron can become quite protective of Ashen whenever she's in distress. This is the root cause of his hostility with Cao during Kuro II, as his actions caused Ashen a not-so-small amount of grief.
• Buxom Beauty Standard: There are plenty of scenes in Daybreak hinting that he prefers girls with larger chests.^ExamplesA scene in Chapter 3 has him claim that Risette and Sarah are the only girls on the other side of the sauna worth going for, he points out Esmeray's chest as one of her attractive traits in Chapter 4, Judith's Wardrobe Malfunction in the intermission was a complete "Hell, Yes!" Moment for him.
• Cast from Hit Points: His Haoukou craft gives him Insight, among other bonuses, in exchange for some HP.
• Chick Magnet: Unsurprisngly for a handsome rogue, he's recieved plenty of fangirls from his various performances, and a random girl in Tharbad wanted to ask him out the moment she saw him.
• Color-Coded Characters: He's largely associated with the color red, as seen with his hair, pants, and Xipha.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: To Kurt Vander. Both are Dual Wielding swordsman and Pretty Boy that act as The Lancer to their respective group's leader. Personality wise though, they're polar opposites: Kurt was The Stoic, polite nobleman with blue hair who felt ashamed of how feminine he looked as it prevented him from using his family's signature greatsword style and had to be forced to crossdress. Aaron meanwhile is a Fiery Redhead Delinquent who voluntarily crossdresses when performing Eastern Sword Dances that are usually played women.
• Dance Battler: His Hiten no Mai craft has him perform a dance that lowers the target's Defence.
• A Day in the Limelight: Chapter 2 of Daybreak focuses on him dealing with some punks working for Almata causing trouble in the Eastern Quarter.
• Death from Above: His Hyakkazan craft, as well as its upgrade Rekkazan, has him slashing down on enemies while airborne.
• Delinquent: Aaron's profile on Daybreak's official website describes him as the "leader-like figure in charge of the hot-blooded youth" ("血気盛んな青年たちを統率しているリーダー的存在") of Calvard's Eastern Quarter.
• Disappeared Dad: In the first Daybreak game, he claims to have never known his father from the day he was born. This is misleading, as the second game reveals that he knew his father Leroy up until the age of 6.
• Diving Kick: His Falcon Talons craft, as well its upgrades Yousou Renkyaku and Yousou Enkyaku, has him jump off of the enemy before performing this on them.
• Dual Wielding: His primary weapons are his Twin Fencers, a pair of straight-edged swords based on Chinese Jian.
• Duel Boss: Ends up having a one-on-one battle with Van when they first meet up in Daybreak. Both end up having fun fighting one another until Elaine interrupts them.
• Elemental Hair Colors: He's a Fiery Redhead with Fire as his secondary element.
• Fantastic Fighting Style: He uses the Gekka style, one of the 3 greatest forms of Eastern martial arts alongside Taito and Kunlun, and he uses it in both swordplay and hand-to-hand combat.
• Fiery Redhead: A Hot-Blooded delinquent with striking red hair who incorporates fire in his attacks.
• Flaming Sword: Both of his swords are on fire during his Rekkazan craft.
• Has a Type: Aaron explicitly Likes Older Women, and it's implied that he prefers them busty.
• Heroic BSoD: After seeing all but one of his friends lifeless on the ground during Chapter 2 of the first Daybreak game, he could only kneel down in shock before he screams at the sky.
• A Hero to His Hometown: He's very well-known to his hometown, as NPCs always thank him for his help.
• Hey, You!: With the exception of Judith, he forgoes using the other party members' names in favor of (often insulting) nicknames. Specifically, he refers to Van as "Old Man,"^note おっさん, "ossan" Agnès as "Little Girl,"^note 小娘, "ko-musume" Feri as "Shorty,"^note チビ, "chibi" Risette as "Maid," Quatre as "Kid,"^note 小僧, "kozō" and Bergard as "Gramps."^note じいさん, "jiisan" By the end of Daybreak, however, Bergard is the only member who isn't referred to by their first name during battle.
• Hot-Blooded: Quite tempermental, as expected of a Fiery Redhead who incorporates fire into a majority of his techniques.
• Hot Wings: His S-Craft Houou Ranbu has him gain fiery wings before delivering the final blow. These wings will also appear in Yousou Enkyaku, the Kuro II upgrade of his Yousou Renkyaku craft.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's rude and likes to mess with people, but thinks of his friends like family and wants to protect the town he grew up in.
• The Lancer: He serves as a both a reliable companion and Foil to Van.
• Leitmotif: "Kirinji, Meeting" from Daybreak.
• Like Brother and Sister:
  • He and Ashen were practically raised together, causing them to view each other as more-or-less siblings.
  • He forms a similar bond with Feri, with Kuro II notably showing how he looks out for her in spite of their arguments.
• Likes Older Women: As a result of him growing up a Momma's Boy, he mostly prefers women older than him while denouncing younger girls like Agnès; he's even trying to hit on Paulette at one point. About the only debatable case is Sarah, whose exact age isn't stated.
• Limit Break: His S-Craft is Houou Ranbu.
• Long-Haired Pretty Boy: He's pretty enough to play a convincing woman in Eastern theatre plays and his bright red hair is worn in a tail that ends just above his waist.
• Missing Mom: His mother, Yuefa, passed away some time before the events of Daybreak.
• Momma's Boy: His late mother Yuefa raised him by herself, so he naturally has a very high opinion of her. Ashen goes so far as to say that the resulting "mother complex" means that there should be no reason to worry about him trying to hit on younger girls like Agnès or Feri.
• Painful Transformation: Alexandre and Viola use the 3rd Genesis orbment and the remaining grudge of the previous Taikun to forcibly turn Aaron into a humanoid demon. Needless to say, the young man was screaming the entire time.
• Playing with Fire: Some of his attacks and his S-Craft involve fire. Ironically, Fire is his secondary element (his primary is Wind).
• Pose of Supplication: There are two instances from the first Daybreak game where he ends up kneeling on the ground in shock: once after seeing his friends' corpses and once after hearing of Gien's plans to make him the new Taikun.
• Real Men Wear Pink: He is known to perform sword dances for Eastern theater in roles typically played by females. His DLC swimsuit also comes with a pink shirt◊.
• Red Is Heroic: His hair and outfit are a bright vibrant red color, and is one of the heroes.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: He's the rambunctious Red to Van's Blue, which is further highlighted with how the two's designs utilize said colors.
• Reincarnation: He's the reincarnation of Taikun, a legendary but fearsome figure in the Eastern Quarter's history. His Connect Event from Kuro II's Final Chapter ends with the implication that it might have something to do with his bloodline, as his father Leroy laments how he wished that it could've ended with him and not get his son involved.
• Required Party Member:
  • If you choose to ally with Heiyue during Chapter 5 of Daybreak, the battle against Cao and Yin (Rixia) will be fought by just him and Judith. If not, they'll just be forced into the starting party.
  • He, Van, Agnès, and Feri are forced to be the only party members in the fight against Aida-Ghoula and Demon Taikun during Kuro II's Final Battle.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: After most of his friends end up brutally killed, he lets out a huge rampage and starts beating up the supposed culprits until he's stopped by Van.
• Skyward Scream: After seeing the dead bodies of his friends, he lets out one in the night sky.
• Supernatural Gold Eyes: He has gold eyes and is revealed to be the Reincarnation of the legendary Taikun, a previous head of Heiyue who had supernatural powers, and ends up being forcefully transformed into a demon for a time.
• Sword Beam: His Sousei Koujin craft unleashes 2 waves of energy, one red and one blue (inflicting Arte damage).
• This Is Unforgivable!: He repeatedly states this when he first lays on his friends' corpses.
• Token Minority: He's the only Office member of Eastern descent.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: As expected of a Delinquent character, he frequently likes to pick fights with characters that he otherwise has no problem working with. Van and Feri are his usual targets, as both take issue with him labelling them as an "old man" and "shorty" respectively. Van even says in Kuro II that Aaron and Feri are quite the team whenever they're not squabbling.
• Wholesome Crossdresser: He's the fourth twin-swordsman to wear female garb at some point, as seen in the mini-soundtrack PV◊. Unlike his predecessors though, he has no qualms with it, almost taking pride his ability to pull it off.
• You're Not My Father: His Connect Event from Kuro II's Final Chapter reveals that the reason why he claimed to have never known his father is because he never considered Leroy to be his father due the latter abandoning him and his mother.

Risette Twinings

Voiced by: Yui Ishikawa (Japanese), Dawn M. Bennett (English)

Appearances: Daybreak | Kuro II | Kai

A 20-year-old Service Concierge working for the Marduk Total Security Company who frequently gives Van support with his tester duties. After assisting the Arkride Solutions Office in Tharbad, she is assigned to join them for the time being.

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• Ambiguously Absent Parent: In contrast to the other members of the Office, neither of her parents are ever acknowledged. What makes this especially notable is how, during Kuro II, she revealed that she lost her body a decade ago, when she was only 10, yet she never touched upon how her parents reacted to this event, or if they were even alive to know about it.
• Almighty Janitor: She is officially a Service Concierge, but she doubles as a skilled fighter and software engineer.
• Big Damn Heroes: Her proper introductions in both of the first two Daybreak games have her bursting onto the scene to assist the heroes:
  • Chapter 3 of Daybreak has her stylishly saving an immobilized Van from Ishtanty.
  • Chapter 2B of Kuro II has her crashing through a window to join up with Van, Feri, and Aaron.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: During Chapter 3D of Kuro II, she falls under the influence of the 8th Genesis, causing her to oppose the Arkride Solutions Office.
• Buxom Beauty Standard: The sauna scene in Chapter 3 of the first Daybreak game has Aaron expressing his positive opinion of her well-endowed figure, and Chapter 2A of the second game has Feri ask about what she needs to do to look like Risette while staring at the latter's chest.
• Cleavage Window: In contrast to her conservative default costume, her DLC outfit from the first Daybreak game has an opening that shows off some of her cleavage.
• Cyborg : Chapter 4 of Daybreak reveals that most of her body are artificial.
• Deflector Shields: Her Cobalt Curtain Craft has her surround herself and allies around her in Beehive Barriers, giving them Guard gauges.
• Doppel Ganger Attack: Kuro II gives Risette the Mystic Vision Craft, which works like Melchior's Phantom Vision from the previous game: she summons a transparent clone of herself using her Xipha, with the clone acting as a non-playable ally.
• Dual Boss: She faces the party alongside Kasim during Chapter 3D of Kuro II.
• Elemental Hair Colors: Her hair is blue, matching her primary element of Water.
• Energy Weapon: Her Ether Snipe Craft, and by extension its Kuro II upgrade Perfect Snipe, has her shoot a lightning-esque laser beam from her gun.
• Fake Memories: In Kuro II Chapter 3D, her memories are rewritten to make her believe that 1. She left the Solutions Office shortly during their trip to Basel, and 2. They previously worked for Almata. While she did notice some contradictions in her memories, she also points out that, due to how everything about her had to be "recreated" after she lost her original body, including her memories, she's always questioned whether anything she remembers is real.
• Flash Step: Her Sonic Chaser Craft, as well its upgrade Lightning Chaser, involves her moving at blinding speed. It's how she saves Quatre after he tries stopping the bomb going off and she ends up losing her left arm and right leg, which are revealed to be mechanical, instead.
• Formal Characters Use Keigo: The Japanese script further cements her refined "maid" image by having her always speak using polite, formal speech and address most other characters with the honorific "-sama".
• Guns Akimbo: She uses two guns in her S-Craft.
• Joshikousei: Her Connect Event from Kuro II's Final Chapter shows her with a younger appearance (specifically, how she'd look at the age of 14) and in an Aramis school uniform.
• Limit Break: Her S-Craft is "Radiance Seeker."
• Long Hair Is Feminine: Her hair reaches the bottom of her backside, and she maintains a ladylike demeanor.
• Meido: It's pointed out by other characters that her uniform looks like a maid's outfit, to the point where Aaron outright refers to her "Maid" in place of her name during Chapters 3 and 4 of Daybreak. Her Amazon-exclusive pre-order DLC outfit from Daybreak is also specifically referred to as a "battle maid suit."
• My God, What Have I Done?: She has this reaction upon realizing that she tried to kill the other Office Members while Brainwashed and Crazy in Kuro II Chapter 3D.
• Nice Girl: She is kind-hearted and supportive, contrasting her seemingly cold and professional appearance.
• Ninja Maid: Her regular outfit already gives off this feeling, but it's outright invoked with her "Battle Maid Suit."
• Odd Friendship: Despite being polar opposites in terms of personality, she gets along surprising well with her co-worker Mirabel, both on and off the clock.
• Out of Focus: Neither of the first two Daybreak games give her A Day in the Limelight or reveal much about her background.
• Required Party Member: She, Van, Quatre, and Judith are forced to be the only party members when fighting against the demon forms of Gerard and Melchior during Kuro II's Final Battle.
• Robot Girl: Her shielding of Quatre ends up revealing that her limbs are mechanical. She's apparently been this way for about a year, and her mechanical parts were based on data taken from the Simulacrum Emperor after the events of Reverie.
• Ridiculously Human Robots: She is using an artificial body to interact with the party, but her exact circumstances are still unknown as of Daybreak.
• The Smart Guy: She shares the role of tech support with Quatre, specializing in software while he focuses on hardware.
• Spectacular Spinning: Her Silent Rip Craft involves her slashing the enemy as she spins.
• Status Buff: Cobalt Curtain has the added bonus of raising the affected characters' Defense and ADF stats.
• Sword and Gun: She uses a gun in one hand, and a short blade in the other.
• Sword Plant: She stabs her blade into the ground at the start of her S-Craft.

Quatre Salision

Quatre with XEROS

FIO

^{SPOILERS FOR KURO II}Quatre-Angelus

Quatre voiced by: Mutsumi Tamura (Japanese), John Patneaude (English)

FIO voiced by: Yukina Shuto (Japanese)

Appearances: Daybreak | Kuro II | Kai

A young boy working as a researcher for the Basel College of Science. After a fateful meeting with Arkride Solutions Office, he decides to join them as a part-timer.

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• Abusive Parents: Kuro II reveals that both of his parents were members of the D∴G Cult who experimented on him in an attempt to create a "divine vessel."
• Affectionate Nickname: Nadia refers to him as "Qua-kun."^note Pronounced as "Ka-kun"
• Attack Drone: An Orbal Drone named FIO follows him in and out of battle.
• Beam Spam: His Exusia Ray Craft from Kuro II has him shot multiple energy beams from his wings.
• Dash Attack: His Procyon Fang Craft has him order XEROS to charge into his opponents.
• A Day in the Limelight: Chapter 4 of Daybreak focuses on him.
• Deflector Shields: His Laplace Code Craft has her surround himself and allies around him in translucent, rectangular prisms, giving them Guard gauges.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: His face appearance is androgynous enough that some people, such as Van, can't tell if he's supposed to be a boy or a girl, to his displeasure.
• Energy Weapon: His Optical Cannon Craft has FIO shoot out a laser beam, similar to the laser-based Crafts used by various Combat Shells in the Cold Steel series.
• The Gunslinger: His primary weapon is a pulse gun.
• Hand Blast: As Quatre-Angelus, his regular attacks have him shoot energy blasts (identical to the ones he normally fired by pulse gun) from his palm.
• Happily Adopted: Professor Hamilton took him in when he was young, causing him to admire her as if she were his actual grandma.
• Healing Hands: His Satellite Cure Craft has FIO rain down green particles that restore the HP and CP of him and others around him.
• Horseback Heroism: He's shown to sometimes ride on XEROS, such as in his S-Craft.
• Limit Break: His S-Craft is Digamma Driver.
• Nonstandard Skill Learning: His Exusia Ray Craft is obtained after the end of Kuro II's Intermission.
• Parental Abandonment: Given his adoption by Professor Hamilton, it's safe to say that neither of his parents are part of his life. And with Kuro II's reveal of them being members of the D∴G Cult, this was certainly for the best.
• Power Gives You Wings: Gains angelic wings of light when fought as Quatre-Angelus during Kuro II's Intermission. Afterwards, they'll briefly show up whenever he uses his Exusia Ray Craft.
• Required Party Member: He, Van, Risette, and Judith are forced to be the only party members when fighting against the demon forms of Gerard and Melchior during Kuro II's Final Battle.
• Robot Dog: He is accompanied by a canine-like robot named XEROS. The Final Chapter of Daybreak allows Feri to give orders to XEROS while Quatre is in captivity, giving her access to Procyon Fang during this short period.
• Sarashi: During the party's stay at Lonlai in the first Daybreak game, he's seen wearing a sarashi on his chest while trying to bathe in the hot springs in private. Given that Kuro II reveals that Quatre is a Hermaphrodite, it's implied that he was trying to hide this from the others.
• Ship Tease: He has a few moments where he shows attraction towards Agnès and Risette:
  • He blushes when talking with Agnès for the first time, something that Renne, Odette, and even Albert instantly spot. When the player listens to his thoughts in a later scene, he even admits to finding her cute.
  • During the Intermission of Kuro II, he's taken aback at the sight of Risette in a swimsuit, even accidentally blurting out how pretty she looks.
• Significant Name Overlap: Subverted. His name is similar to one of the kids Renne befriended during her days at Paradise, something that she acknowledges, but she then later confirms that the kid and Quatre are different people. While the name may invoke some players of Paradise's memory and Quatre does have connection with the cult, the name is not that deeply related.
• The Smart Guy: Van outright refers to him as the Office's designated "tech guy," though he specializes in hardware while Risette generally handles software.
• Spin Attack: Procyon Fang ∆ from Kuro II has XEROS add a forward spinning motion to his original charge.
• Status Buff: Laplace Code has the added bonus of raising the affected characters' Strength and ATS stats.
• Supernatural Gold Eyes: As Quatre-Angelus, his normally purple eyes turn golden◊.
• Teen Genius: He was only 15 during Daybreak (16 in the sequel), but is already shown to have a strong affinity with technology, being a researcher at the prestigious Basel Institute of Science.
• Tyke-Bomb: Kuro II reveals that he was modified as a child by the D∴G Cult to become the perfect vessel for a being from the Beyond.

Judith Lanster

^{Grimcat the Phantom Thief}

Voiced by: Yōko Hikasa (Japanese), Brittany Cox (English)

Appearances: Daybreak | Kuro II | Kai

A top actress in Calvard's Orbal Cinema industry. Unbeknownst to all, she is also Grimcat the Phantom Thief, an elusive vigilante who targets corrupt politicians and illegal operations. After many encounters with the Arkride Solutions Office, in both identities, she decides to hang around them.

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• Ambiguously Absent Parent: Her father and maternal grandfather are never brought up. In sharp contrast to this, her mother Chloe and grandmother Dominique are occasionally mentioned and/or shown throughout the first two Daybreak games, and they clearly had a big part in her life.
• Animal Motifs: She is heavily association with cats: her heels have a picture of a cat on the bottom, Wild Snatch/Valiant Snatch shows her slashing an enemy with claws, the card seen in her Twilight Kiss craft has a picture and inscription referencing cats, and her alter-ego, outright named Grimcat, has a tail and cat ears as part of the costume.
• Bare Midriffs Are Feminine: Her top stays over her navel area, fittingly for the Office's resident Ms. Fanservice.
• Barely-Changed Dub Name: Both her real name and her alter ego received one-letter changes to their names in the English localization.
  • Judith Ranster was changed to Judith Lanster.
  • Grimcats was changed to Grimcat.
• Building Swing: Can swing through buildings as Grimcat which turn out to be her S-Craft.
• Butt-Monkey: Ever since her first encounter with Van in the sewers under Edith, it seems as though nothing can go right for this clumsy woman. She easily reveals information with only the slightest of prodding, her alter-ego's outfit is subject to ridicule, and she's not very good at keeping her identity a secret.
• Buxom Beauty Standard: She's well-endowed in the chest department, and her Connect Event from Kuro II's Final Chapter shows Gotch being quite pleased at how Grimcat has "a figure that rivals Judith's."
• Connected All Along: She and Rixia were already well acquainted with each other for a good 8 years before the start of Daybreak.
• Cool Shades: She owns a pair of aviator sunglasses, though she usually keeps them tucked into her top, putting them on◊ only when she doesn't want to draw attention to herself.
• Energetic and Soft-Spoken Duo: Compare her fiery personality to Nina's quiet demeanor.
• Eye Color Change: The most noticeable change Valiant Snatch brings to the Wild Snatch craft is briefly changing Judith's irises to gold right before the slash.
• Fiery Redhead: Barring the blond tips, her hair is stated by Kuro II to be orange^note Her page on the official website for Daybreak refers to it as pink, and she's often the loudest of Daybreak's main characters. It serves as a fitting contrast to Nina.
• Foil: To her rival, Rixia Mao. Both are up and coming star entertainers and are the resident Ms. Fanservice of their group using eastern style weapons. Both also are the latest in the line of Legacy Character that has been passed down their family for generations but what the legacy is and how they respond to it is how they differ. Rixia's family passed down the title of the Professional Killer Yin who worked for Calvard's underground, while Judith's passed down the just Grimcat Phantom Thief mantle who are Just Like Robin Hood. While Rixia is conflicted with her lineage and has shown interest in retiring the mantle of Yin permanently, Judith is shown to be very proud of her lineage and role as Grimcat. In addition, while Rixia manages to hide her identity quite well for over a game and a half despite frequently interacting with the SSS in both identities (though Lloyd had his suspicions after a while) Judith is found out almost immediately once the party gets a good look at her both in and out of costume.
• For Great Justice: She is mentioned to be strong-willed and always standing up for the weak.
• Friendly Rivalry: She considers Nina to be both her friend and rival in their acting careers, a sentiment the junior actress reciprocates. Likewise, she says that Rixia was both a rival and comrade in their secret lives as the phantom thief Grimcat and the assassin Yin respectively.
• Gratuitous French: Her Twilight Kiss craft shows her throwing a card inscripted with Il ne faut pas éveiller le chat qui dort^note Do not awake the sleeping cat.
• Grin of Audacity: She sports one during her transformation.
• Henshin Hero: She can turn into Grimcat in a similar manner as Van's Grendel.
• Honorary True Companion: Subverted; no matter what the characters say, it's clear that the story considers her just as much a member of the Arkride Solutions Office as any of the part-timers. This is best shown at the end of Daybreak, where she was able to join the others for the Final Boss battle, while Elaine and Renne couldn't.
  • Hilariously, her page on the official website for Kuro II has her claim that she doesn't "remember ever joining the Office"...despite said page listing her affiliation as being said Office.
• Hot-Blooded: She's very loud and passionate about punishing evil-doers. Too passionate, in fact, as it causes her to hastily come to the wrong conclusions about the party, which only serves to make things awkward once the misunderstandings are cleared up.
• Instant Armor: Her Wild Snatch craft (as well as its Kuro II upgrade "Valiant Snatch") and her action-based moves shows that she is able to summon part of her Grimcat armor mid-fight.
• Just Like Robin Hood: She specifically targets the corrupt and powerful.
• Last-Name Basis: Aaron doesn't refer to her by her first name until Daybreak's Final Chapter.
• Legacy Character: She's actually the third user of the Grimcat alter-ego, succeeding both her mother Chloe and grandmother Dominique◊.
• Leitmotif: "I'm Grimcat!" is, as the title implies, the theme that plays in Daybreak during her boss battles as Grimcat.
• Let's You and Him Fight: Despite both parties being good guys, Van and whoever he's with at the time^note Feri and Agnès in Chapter 2, Aaron in Chapter 3 have to fight Judith as Grimcat twice in Daybreak.
• Limit Break: Her S-Craft is Grimm-Night Waltz.
• Meditating Under a Waterfall: When the party finds her at Longlai during the first Daybreak game's Intermission, she's trying to meditate under one but horribly fails at it. It doesn't help that a monster decided to interrupt her, nearly eating her until she busts out her Grimcat form.
• Ms. Fanservice: The Calvard arc has plenty of beautiful women dressed to show curves and/or skin, but the actress Judith is a step above the rest. Her default civilian appearance exposes more skin in more places than the other women and draws the eye with its warm colors. Judith's cat-burglar persona Grimcat adopts a dominatrix look by wearing a sheer and skintight jumpsuit up to the chest. Random snips of armor are all that keep "indecent exposure" of Grimcat's rap sheet. The dominatrix elements also show up in her spy movie Golden Blood costume, which consists of a jumpsuit that is both backless and zipped open on the front, exposing a small bra with emphasizing straps.
• Never My Fault: Judith has a habit of not owning up to her mistakes:
  • Despite realizing that she misunderstood the situation after her second boss battle in Daybreak,^note She thought Van and Aaron did something to make Sarah cry, when they did nothing of the sort she refuses to apologize for attacking Van and Aaron, and even acts as if she's the one letting them off the hook.
  • Kuro II has her outright state that the whole "scandal" with Maxim from the previous game wasn't her fault. This ignores how she was the one who lead him into a secluded area under the false impression that he was connected to the mafia.
• Out of Focus: In spite of her status as a main character, she mostly stays out of the spotlight during Daybreak and II, not even joining the party during the first game until more than halfway through.
• Palette Swap: The bikini she's seen wearing during Kuro II Chapter 3 is a re-color of Alfin's swimsuit from Reverie.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Downplayed with her Grimcat disguise. It normally does work as a disguise, but Van and Feri already put two-and-two together the moment they saw both Grimcat and Judith on the same day, and it didn't take long for the other party members to see either. Even as late as Daybreak's Intermission, she still tries to convince Van and the party that they're supposed to be two different people before her transformation disappears. She can however disguise herself with an untied brown hair with no one in public knowing who she is.
• Pervert Revenge Mode: She slaps Van when he accidentally saw her naked during Daybreak's Intermission. Fortunately for them, they get on right terms after a while.
• Phantom Thief: The first character in Trails since Bleublanc to use this title.
• Poor Communication Kills: The boss battles against her in the first Daybreak game are all triggered by her jumping to conclusions without hearing the party out.
• Power Makes Your Hair Grow: When she transforms into Grimcat, her already long hair grows into twin-tails.
• Punched Across the Room: As Grimcat, her kicks are powerful enough to send monsters flying.
• Required Party Member:
  • If you choose to ally with Heiyue during Chapter 5 of Daybreak, the battle against Cao and Yin (Rixia) will be fought by just her and Aaron. If not, they'll just be forced into the starting party.
  • She, Van, Risette, and Quatre are forced to be the only party members when fighting against the demon forms of Gerard and Melchior during Kuro II's Final Battle.
• A Rotten Time to Revert: During the Intermission of Daybreak, her Grimcat transformation ends right in front of the Solutions Office while she's trying to hide the fact that she's actually Judith.
• Serious Business: To her, watching movies is serious business It doesn't matter if Arioch is an overwhelmingly powerful enemy trying to kill her and her new friends: if he's never seen a movie, he needs to, even if it's not one of hers.
• Skewed Priorities: Arioch mentioning in chapter 5 of Daybreak that he's never seen a movie before, despite apparently being a fan of hers, really rubbed her the wrong way. Both Feri and Quatre point out how weird it is for that to get her all worked up.
• Spectacular Spinning: Her Criminal Beaut craft has her swinging her whip as she spins.
• Stripperiffic: The amount of skin exposed in her Grimcat outfit shouldn't be all that practical. Van even reprimands her for openly wearing that kind of outfit in front of Feri when the party first encounter her as Grimcat in Daybreak.
• Three-Point Landing: She poses like this in her in-universe "Golden Blood" movie.
• Transformation Sequence: She pulls one of these when she transforms into Grimcat in battle.
• Wardrobe Malfunction: After a boss interrupts her waterfall meditation in Daybreak, she ends up giving Van an eyeful after her transformation as Grimcat runs out and her clothes start unraveling itself.
• What the Hell, Hero?: After the battle with Shizuna in Daybreak's Intermission, she calls out the party and Shizuna as to why they're even fighting the latter when they're supposed to be retrieving a possessed Yume. She then calls out Shizuna as to why she's even attacking them when they have no reason to even fight one another, even calling her out on her Blood Knight nature. Shizuna actually is shocked that Judith has a point.
• Whip of Dominance: Her primary weapon is a whip referred to as the shooting star whip, fitting with the dominatrix design of her Grimcat costume.

Bergard Zeman

^{Gunther Barkhorn}

Voiced by: Akio Ōtsuka (Japanese), Dave Fennoy (English)

Appearances: Cold Steel III | Daybreak | Kai

An elderly martial arts master who served as a teacher to the then-teenaged Van. In truth, he is the former Eighth Dominion of the Gralsritter, Gunther Barkhorn, who apparently died in the Nord Highlands in-between the events of Cold Steel II and Cold Steel III, now going undercover. He eventually reunites with his former student and joins him and his comrades on their biggest job yet.

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• Animal Battle Aura: His aura takes on the form of a red wolf during one of his crafts.
• Badass Armfold: His official pose in his artwork has him do this, as seen in his trope picture.
• Badass Back: His Shishiohkou craft involves him turning away from his opponent and slamming his back against them.
• Badass Biker: As first revealed in Daybreak's mini soundtrack PV, he rides a bike.
• Badass Preacher: As a former Dominion, he did do some church services.
• Badass Teacher: He's had many apprentices, including Van, Gaius, Celis, Leon, Ashlad, and Abbas.
• Baritone of Strength: As an Ex-Gralsritter, he has a great amount of strength with him, and has a deep voice fitting his status.
• Been There, Shaped History: He was present when the Salt Pale incident happened, and he was at Erebonia alongside Thomas during the Civil War in Cold Steel II. He also happened to be at Nord when the skirmish incident between Erebonia and Calvard happened, forcing him to pass his stigma to Gaius.
• The Big Guy: The biggest and most muscular member of the first Daybreak's main eight. And though Zin and Walter might be taller than him, they're not as buff and as muscular as him.
• Brought Down to Badass: In shedding his identity as Barkhorn, he gave up his Stigma, ship and assets as a Dominion (including the high level Thraumaturgy the group is feared for) to Gaius, so he's lacking a fair amount of his fomer power. Despite this, he's still one of the most powerful people around, and commands just as much respect to people that know him despite having forsaken his title.
• Continuity Cameo: He makes a brief appearance at end of Kuro II's credits.
• Connected All Along: It turns out that he knew Kilika's father Ryuga Rouran and was friends with him.
• Cool Shades: Wears a pair while driving his bike.
• Death from Above: His Titas Hammer craft has him jump and smash the ground with fist as he descends.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Due to his identity being the presumed to be the dead Barkhorn, he actually makes his first appearance in Gaius' flashback in Cold Steel III.
• Eyepatch of Power: He wears an eyepatch over his right eye.
• Faking the Dead: After passing his stigma to Gaius, it turns out that he survived and has remained hidden for a long time and would have stayed hidden until Almata decided to nuke Creil Village, forcing him to come back.
• Fantastic Fighting Style: He uses the Kunlun-style, one of the 3 greatest forms of Eastern martial arts.
• Honorary True Companion: He's technically not supposed to be an employee of the Solutions Office during the first Daybreak game, full-time or otherwise, yet is still treated like an equal comrade, even joining in on the game's Final Boss battle.
• I'm Dying, Please Take My MacGuffin: He was heavily injured when he passed his stigma to Gaius, according to Gaius' flashback in Cold Steel III.
• Last-Name Basis: During his time as a Dominion, he was always referred to by his last name Barkhorn, to the point where his first name wasn't revealed until Daybreak.
• Light Is Good: His primary element is Space, and he's a good-natured fellow who serves as a trusted ally of the heroes.
• Limit Break: His S-Craft is Koha Rokugosho.
• Mr. Exposition: He explains a lot of things to the party about terms like the identity of one of the 77 devils that has been inside Van.
• Old Master: He's 69 years old as of the first Daybreak game, and he taught Van martial arts back when the latter was in his teens. He's also the first old-looking playable character in the Trails Series^note Roselia and Zeit might be centuries old, but their supernatural origins prevent them from looking their age
• Out of Focus: The most notable example from the first Daybreak game, likely due to his Story-Breaker Power; despite being listed as a main character, his screen-time is surprisingly minimal, not even appearing until more than halfway through. And even when he does show up and join the party, he never receives any real spotlight during said game. And that's not even getting into the sequel.
• Put on a Bus: Aside from flashbacks and a cameo in the ending credits, he doesn't appear in Kuro II.
• Red Baron: He was known as "The Roaring Lion" back when he was a Dominion. He's since shed the moniker after becoming Bergard, though.
• Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: Despite his supposed death in the Nord Highlands during the gap between Cold Steel II and III, he turns out to still be alive. Unsurprisingly, Van calls him out on this.
• Retired Badass: By technicality, he's no longer a Dominion since he did give Gaius his Stigma. He still visits his former colleagues in the ending of the first Daybreak game.
• Scarf of Asskicking: He wears a white scarf around his neck.
• Story-Breaker Power: As a former Dominion and Van's martial arts master, having him in the party too soon would have made all the enemies Van had to face a complete non-issue, hence why he doesn't join the party until the penultimate chapter of the first Daybreak game.
• Super-Scream: His Lion's Roar craft has him attack the enemy by shouting at them.
• Too Many Belts: His coat and boots have belts.
• That Man Is Dead: He considers both his former name and moniker a thing of the past, and he'd appreciate it if others did the same.

Swin Abel and Nadia Rayne

During Chapters 1 and 2 of Kuro II, former Garden assassins Swin and Nadia are tasked by Van to handle things in Edith as "Substitute Spriggans" while he's on an extended business trip to Messeldam, and later Langport. While technically a temporary arrangement, the two nonetheless have the Office listed as their affiliation for the duration of the game.

For more information on the duo, see their entries here.

Related Characters

Mare

Voiced by: Maria Naganawa (Japanese), Skyler Davenport (English)

Appearances: Daybreak | Kuro II

The AI of Van's custom-made Xipha Holo Core. Initially an assertive but otherwise typical experimental support AI for Van's Holo Core, it materialized in the real world and acquired a hologram-like avatar after being exposed to Agnès' Genesis orbment. Since then, it obtained "free will" impossible for a normal AI to have, and the capability to make Van "wear his nightmares" whenever he's in a pinch, transforming him into the explosively strong Grendel.

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• Artificial Intelligence: Or at least it was just a normal support AI, until an incident with Agnès' Genesis orbment somehow gives it sentience, a holographic avatar, and the ability to transform Van into Grendel. Subverted when it's revealed that the Mare everyone knew isn't actually Van's Xipha AI, but someone from the Beyond using the AI as her identity while she's in Zemuria.
• Demonic Possession: Gets a chance to possess Yume due to the Genesis' influence during the first Daybreak's Intermission. She's more than happy to be running around with an actual body even when being reprimanded by Van and his party for endangering the unaware Yume.
• Fairy Companion: Notably appears whenever Van transforms into Grendel, staying by his side for the duration of the transformation.
• Meaningful Name: Her name "Mare" is taken from "nightmare," and she's the one that gives Van the ability to "wear his nightmares" to become Grendel the Nightmare-clad.
• Mistaken Identity: Whoever Mare actually is, it's established that she isn't actually Van's Xipha AI, but an entity from beyond Zemuria that used the AI as her appearance and identity to interact with Van.

Spoilers for Daybreak Chapter 2

Taikun

^{Demon form}

Appearances: Daybreak | Kuro II

Aaron's previous life who died 40 years prior to the events of Daybreak after being backstabbed by Heiyue.

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• Battle in the Center of the Mind: The last fight in Chapter 2 of the first Daybreak game is a showdown between him and Aaron inside of the latter's head.
• Dual Boss: Demon Taikun fights alongside Aida-Ghoul during Kuro II's final chapter.
• Duel Boss: His battle with Aaron in Daybreak is fought one-on-one.
• Lack of Empathy: His later years had him rule with no sense of the people's emotions whatsoever, prompting Heiyue to betray him "for the good of Langport".
• One-Winged Angel: Taikun was human in life, but the third Genesis orbment triggered a transformation into the more demonic form that serves as a boss in Daybreak.
• Revenge: Once he awakens in Aaron's mind, he states his intention on destroying Heiyue and the city of Langport as payback for them betraying him in life.

Spoilers for Daybreak Endgame

Vagrants-Zion

First form

^{Second form}

Appearances: Daybreak

A being from beyond Zemuria that was fused with Van ever since his birth. He is among the 5 strongest Devils of the 77 described in the scriptures of the Septian Church.

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• Chain Pain: The first part of his S-Craft has him create several chains to attack his targets.
• Death from Above: His S-Craft ends with him crashing down on the targets below him.
• Demon Lords and Archdevils: Said to be one of the top 5 Devils who lead other 72 Devils.
• Golden Super Mode: His first form is blue, but he turns gold after turning into his more powerful second form.
• Finger Gun: He makes this gesture during his S-Craft.
• Limit Break: In his second form, he gains the S-Craft Gadea Vi Zea Voam.
• Post-Climax Confrontation: He's the Final Boss of the first Daybreak game, but the main conflict had already ended with the defeat of Gerard.
• Red Baron: He's known as The Wandering Demon King, one of the 77 high-ranking Devils from beyond Zemuria.
• Sealed Inside a Person-Shaped Can: He was asleep for a very long time, sealed within his human shell "Van", and was supposed to stay that way for a few hundred years more. It wasn't until Agnès and the other members of Van's office tried to break him out of his self-imposed imprisonment did he prematurely wake up.
• Sequential Boss: You first have to take him to below a certain amount of health with the other party members to free Van, after which he reveals a second form as the actual final battle commences.
• We Will Meet Again: He promises to come back for Van to fuse with him for good after he gets defeated by the Solutions Office.

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